//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Lost Spark // by SkyFlare //------------------------------// Spark looked out over the green fields as the orange, gold tint of the sun graced the land for the first time that day. Unicorns were no longer the ones that were charged with bringing up the sun and the moon during their respective times anymore. Now, the team of six unicorns had been replaced by a single pony, an alicorn. The first day that Spark had heard about the end of Chaos, he was so amazed to find out that ponies other than unicorns were tasked with bringing the night and the day. He was distraught, more or less, when it was revealed to him that the ponies that had replaced unicorns also had horns and the ability to use magic. That fact, for a short time, had been the source of so much of his inspiration, but upon that information being revealed, that inspiration was gone and he was back to searching the books to learn about his own magical abilities. By this time, the sky was already turning blue and the light, less brilliant. Waking up to watch the sunrise was always something that Spark enjoyed. There was nearly nopony else up at that time and he could just be alone with his thoughts. The only thing that he could think of that would make those moments better was if Sonnet would join him, but she always slept in after the harvest was finished. “She does an excellent job, doesn’t she?” a pony asked, walking up behind Spark. “Star Swirl!” Spark gasped, spinning around to greet his hero. “What are their names?” “Princesses Celestia and Luna. Goddesses of the sun and moon respectively.” Star Swirl stated, watching the sky with Spark. “Where is your marefriend, Sonnet was it?” “I usually wake her up after the sun rises. She isn’t a morning pony most of the time.” Spark remarked, remembering the last time that he’d woken her up to watch the sun rise; she’d thrown everything that she had nearby at him. “What’s in that box?” Star Swirl asked, gesturing to a small box, wrapped in a bow, which was sitting next to Spark’s hooves. “A present for Sonnet. Today is our three year anniversary. I bought her a ruby necklace.” Spark stated, blushing slightly. “Let me see it. I’ll cast a protective spell on it so that you won’t ever have to worry about her. I can understand worrying for another pony that you care about deeply. Both Celestia and Luna are like daughters to me, and I worry about them every minute that I spend away from them.” Star Swirl offered. He smiled in a way that gave Spark a feeling of comfort. Despite the lack of his need to worry about her, having an extra precaution against harm could never hurt. Usually the most dangerous thing that she would participate in was bucking trees to get some oranges down. Aside from the possibility of having an orange fall on her head, she was usually pretty safe. “Yes please,” Spark said graciously, “I’d love that.” Star Swirl used his magic to gently remove the bow from the box and pull the small red gem. Connecting the gem to the black cloth was a small piece of gold. The gem didn’t look that expensive, but its value came from who it was from and who it was meant for. Within seconds, his horn began to glow slightly brighter and the ruby reacted to its glow by glowing equally as bright. “It’s done. Now, I’m going to head back to the house that I’m staying at. Once you wake up Sonnet, and give her the necklace, would the both of you please join me.” Star Swirl commented, turning around and going on his way. “Thank you!” Spark called out. Spark looked at the ruby necklace and thought about how it would look with her light blue coat. He thought that the contrast would definitely work well. She also always loved rubies, so Spark was feeling very confident in his choice of gifts. He began to make his way back to the guest house so that he could give Sonnet her present and then they could go and help out Star Swirl. Sonnet was usually fine with waking up as long as the sun was already up. The only time that she would even consider getting up any earlier was if it was harvest season, and that had just ended. “Sonnet, it’s time to wake up.” Spark said quietly as he gently shook the sleeping pony. Sonnet grunted and rolled over, facing away from Spark. “No.” “We’ve got to go and meet with Star Swirl. Also if you get up, I have a present for you.” he replied, setting the wrapped gift beside her on the bed. “For waking up?” Sonnet groaned, turning over to face Spark. “No, for our anniversary.” Spark answered. “It’s been three years today since we started dating.” “That’s today?” Sonnet gasped, jumping up from her bed. “Uh, yeah.” Spark laughed back. “It is on a day that should be easy to remember.” “Pretty easy to remember.” Sonnet smiled back slyly. “Look behind you for your present.” Spark turned around and saw a hoofmade scarf hanging on the far wall. It was the same blue as Sonnet’s coat in the middle with a streak of brown, matching Spark’s coat, on either side. The amount of time that she had most likely spent making it was clear in that each stitch was made with a precision that it was hard to find anywhere else. “I love it.” Spark said happily, hugging Sonnet as she climbed out of her bed. “Now go on, open yours.” “Okay, give me a second.” Sonnet laughed back, lifting her present up. She began to remove the bow that functioned for holding the box closed and quickly lifted the top off. She let out a gasp when she saw the necklace. “It’s beautiful.” “I hoped that you’d like it.” Spark smiled. Sonnet and Spark sat with each other and talked, reminiscing about some of their favorite memories together. They talked for nearly an hour before they finally decided to go over to Star Swirl’s and assist him in whatever way he needed. Upon reaching Star Swirl’s house, they saw that the door was propped open with a stack of books and smoke was seeping out through the open door. Spark immediately charged in, calling out for Star Swirl. His worries were quickly put to rest as the old unicorn stepped out from behind a doorway. “My teleportation spell still appears to need some work.” Star Swirl coughed out light heartedly. “On the bright side, I just invented applesauce.” “I think somepony beat you to that one already.” Sonnet laughed, stepping into the house. “Yes, well, my applesauce is magical. Or at least it was created with magic. It depends on who you talk to as to if that makes something magical.” the wizard laughed. “I’ll get to cleaning this up.” Spark volunteered, grabbing a rag and going over the golden paste that covered the wall behind the desk. “Sonnet, would you be a dear and fetch me the journal that I have sitting on the table in the kitchen?” Star Swirl asked, using his magic to levitate the stack of books that he had previously used to prop the door open back into place. As the door slowly closed under its own weight, Star Swirl opened the window and locked it in place. Sonnet wandered back into the room, carrying with her an old looking journal. Star Swirl pulled it away from her with his magic and began scribbling something down on a page a little less than half-way in. As he did this, Sonnet’s eyes caught a glimpse of a piece of paper that was resting on an otherwise empty desk. “From one to another…” she began to read. Star Swirl galloped over and interrupted her mid reading, “No!” he gasped. “That spell isn’t ready yet. I’ve been working on it for years, but it isn’t quite to the point that I need for it to be at.” “Oh. Okay.” Sonnet replied, startled by the sudden liveliness of the old pony. “It’s fine, that spell just has a very specific purpose. It is meant for another pony to cast.” Star Swirl apologized. “Who?” Spark asked, glancing over from the newly wiped down wall. “Somepony who won’t be around for some time, but she has great potential.” Star Swirl answered, returning the paper to his desk. “Luckily, soon, my part of the spell will be completed and it will be left to her to finish my greatest work.” Spark stared at the unicorn for a few seconds, wondering about what he had said. It wasn’t like him, at least not from Spark’s own reading, to leave a spell unfinished, especially not one that he seemed to be so proud of. “I shall make another attempt at this spell.” Star Swirl said suddenly. “For your own safety, I must ask that you step out of the room.” Spark nodded, leading Sonnet from the room. Star Swirl created a magical barrier along the door frame, allowing for the two earth ponies to look in and observe his spell, without endangering themselves. He then proceeded to create a small bubble around himself, just in case his current test subject, a bright, ripe orange, ended up in a similar state to the apple that came before. A few moments of absolute, deafening silence passed as the unicorn lost the expression of merriment that had dominated him up until that point, faded away into what could almost be described as a scowl. A faint yellow light began to glow around the wizard’s horn and, at the same time, an identical glow formed around the orange that rested on the desk that Spark had just cleaned around. A quiet grunt emanated from the pony as he attempted to recall upon the legends that inspired him to create that spell. A blinding flash of golden light filled the room, and the orange was sitting on the floor on the other side. It had been teleported. After seeing that the spell was a success, Star Swirl let down his shields and approached the fruit. He lifted it with his magic, peeling it as it was raised higher. Once it reached the same level as his face, he took a bite. “I deserve it.” he smiled, looking over to the two earth ponies. “There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it, lucky me.” From what Spark had observed of Star Swirl thus far, he was surprised to see such a playful nature in a pony so highly regarded for his contributions to pony culture. It was unexpected, to say the least, that he would take a failed attempt so lightly, and moments later joke about a success. Most ponies were unable to laugh at their own failures, and so, seeing a pony who was capable of doing just that, especially one as well renowned as the great Star Swirl the Bearded, was beyond surprising. “You’re not quite what I expected.” Sonnet laughed, almost as if speaking Spark’s very thoughts. “You joke around a lot more than I would have expected.” “One has to be able to laugh at one’s own mistakes. What good does getting angry about that sort of thing do? From my experience, it causes one to stress, making future attempts that much less likely to work than the initial failure. That is why I laugh.” Star Swirl explained. “Now I begin work on crafting a more precise version of that same teleportation spell, making it safe for ponies to use on themselves.” Spark walked over to the unicorn as he scribbled something, nearly illegible, down in a notebook. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you learn about this spell?” “While exploring the outskirts of a forest, I came across a small tribe of zebras.” Star Swirl started, noticing expressions of confusion on Spark and Sonnet’s faces, he began to elaborate in more detail. “They are another equine species, found in a far off land. There is a small tribe that has migrated here to Equestria from their native land. Upon encountering them and learning of their culture, I found it hard to resist the urge to seek out their homeland, and in the end, I learned of potions that they could craft that had mysterious properties. Teleportation was one of the more interesting of these properties.” “What do the zebras look like?” Sonnet asked, curiosity getting the better of her. “They are similar to earth ponies, but their manes stick straight up and they have black and white stripes. Their cutie marks are rather interesting as well, instead of the more colorful ones that we have, they have black and white ones. Also they have access to a strange and foreign magic that is simply fascinating.” Star Swirl continued. There was a moment of silence as Star Swirl put up his journal and approached his desk. He lifted an odd looking journal from a drawer that was built into his desk. “I was honestly expecting that to take longer. I guess that I’m done for the day, all there is left to do is research to find a way to be able to teleport a pony.” Spark nodded and bid the unicorn farewell as he walked toward the door. He hoped that once Star Swirl had finished with his teleportation spell, he could start investigating the ancient art of earth pony magic, and possibly how to externalize it. “Star Swirl, do you have any books on earth pony magic that Spark could borrow?” Sonnet asked, once again taking charge of helping Spark. “I believe that I may have one. I believe that it is one of the few that survived Discord’s reign.” Star Swirl replied, quickly turning to face a bookshelf. Seconds later he pulled out a book and held it in front of Spark. “Here you go; I’d appreciate having it back when you come in tomorrow. Have a good day you two, wouldn’t want to keep you cooped up with an old coot like me on a day as important as this.” Spark looked at the book for a moment, noticing how well kept it was. A book as old as the one that he was holding should surely be showing signs of wear and tear after all of those years, but looking at it without knowing that, one would assume that it had just been printed that day. The cover was plain, without a title or an image. It was a wonder how the unicorn was even able to recognize the book for what it was. Spark and Sonnet happily trotted from the house and made their way to somewhere that they could spend some time together. Sonnet had suggested going down to the lake before it got too cold. Dartmoor Lake was the nearest place that they could follow Sonnet’s wishes, and the weather would only be warm enough for the next couple of days. As far as Spark saw it, it was one of those “now or never” situations, but in that case, “never” was only a few months. Upon arriving at the lake, Sonnet set her new necklace down next to her and jumped in right away. With her, there was never any hesitation, never any forethought, it was always action. When she was younger she used to say, jokingly of course, that thinking was a waste of time. “Once you’re done thinking it through, I’ve done it three times already.” she would always tell Spark. A few seconds after Sonnet became fully submerged in the lake water, her head floated up to the surface and she gasped for air, shivering violently. She paddled her way to the shore and climbed out, water dripping from her coat, mane, and tail. “You should have checked the water.” Spark smirked approaching his marefriend. Sonnet made a whiny noise as she stuck her tongue out at the young stallion. “Maybe you should go for a swim too.” she giggled as she shoved him into the ice cold water. “Th- that was unc- called f- for.” Spark stuttered as he climbed out of the lake. “What? Like this?” Sonnet jumped in a second time, splashing water over Spark just as he managed to finish wiping his eyes from the first time. “Uncalled for.” Spark grimaced as he pulled himself out of the water and flopped down onto his back. “I’m going to dry out now.” “Oh, come on!” Sonnet giggled, nudging him slightly with her muzzle. “Stop moping and have some fun.” she continued in an exaggerated tone. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider hypothermia to be fun.” Spark rolled his eyes. “Can’t we just relax for a while? Just this once?” Sonnet let out a painful sounding groan, “Fine…” Afterward, she laughed again. It wasn’t hard for her to have fun, especially not with her imagination. Sonnet happily threw herself at the soft grass next to Spark, and the two of them laid there, looking up at the blue sky for the better part of an hour. It seemed that the world around them just stopped existing in its entirety as they enjoyed each other’s company. After a while, once they were completely dried out, they left and made their way back into the small village that they called home. The guest houses on the farms were going to be closed until next harvest season, so everypony would go back to doing what they used to for another few months. The two small family owned restaurants would reopen, the one inn that the town had would be accepting guests again, and Spark’s family would come home. “Wanna get a bite to eat?” Spark suggested as they entered the town. “Sure, I am kinda hungry, especially considering that I haven’t actually gotten to eat yet today.” Sonnet answered, her gaze drifting off to follow one of the last birds that they would see that year. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t eaten yet either.” Spark laughed. “Let’s go to Wood’s place since it’s the closest.” “Sounds good to me.” Sonnet replied, speeding up to catch up with Spark, who hadn’t seen her get distracted and had continued moving at his natural, quick pace. As the couple made their way through the small town of Stable, they eventually reached a small building that had a rather large, eye catching sign. “Wood Grill, finest eats” was all that the sign said. Wood Grill was one of the first ponies to settle in Stable. That made his restaurant the go to eatery for miles, until Nighttime came into town with his diner that stayed open all night. The two of them had worked out a deal where only one would be open at a time, except for the twilight hours, two hours in both morning and night when they would be in competition with each other. These hours weren’t particularly popular for eating anyway, so there wasn’t a huge competition, but there was some. This was during the time that they were both open, but Nighttime’s diner was out of the way. It would be easier for Spark to stop by Wood’s place, get some dinner, take Sonnet home, and then go home himself. This choice just seemed like the most rational. They had a quick meal at Wood’s Grill before setting off on their way home. Sonnet’s house was a quaint little hut that her grandfather had built years before when he first moved to the settlement. Over the years, the thatch roofing had been replaced by a more water repellant material, windows had been added, and the dirt floor had been covered by stone tiles. Her home looked more natural than Spark’s did. His house was made using his parents’ magic, forged from the timber harvested from some of the older trees that surrounded the village. There were more windows in his house than there were in any other house in the village. The roof consisted of two layers of wood, preventing any leakage of water and insulating it from the elements more effectively. Once Sonnet and Spark arrived at the mare’s house, they parted ways with a kiss. Spark, left with a good mood and a good book made his way home. His mind set on having that book read come sunrise. He’d promised Star Swirl that he would return it the next morning, so he had little choice if he was to discover the secrets of earth pony magic, and how to externalize it in a different way than just growing plants better and faster.